Ns The Behemoth Platinum

Fire_Eel · February 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">The Special Improved Version!!!</div> The Behemoth

Prologue

For a long time, the race of man has always pondered over the question – Are we alone in the Universe? The question was answered, but not exactly the way anyone had wanted or even expected. Yes, the Kharaa, creatures of nightmare, aliens of terror, man's ultimate enemy, at least that's what man thinks.

It was not a friendly meeting, and a battle broke out immediately between man and Kharaa at once. The Kharaa are very powerful and unnaturally smart. Eventually, countless space stations, space facilities and other important sites were taken by the Kharaa. Entire ships were lost, many were killed. The Kharaa was merciless. Trillions of dollars were lost, and no one could deal with the Kharaa. Humanity’s future expansion seemed doomed.

The Trans System Authority, better known as TSA was the only viable option capable of dealing with the Kharaa. Training new recruits into experienced marines known as the Frontiersmen. The Frontiersmen are the new force specifically to deal with the Kharaa threat. At last, the forces of humanity and Kharaa seemed even, and the war broke out.

The war between the Kharaa and Frontiersmen has went on for months, years.....an eternity. We have met our match at last, and the Kharaa are every bit as strong and as intelligent as humans are, if not worse. In an attempt to defeat the alien threat however, the TSA designed and created the biggest spaceship ever to exist - The Behemoth, codename - BH.

The Behemoth was built in a total period of 3 years, it was made with Neo-Titanium Alloy, fixed with dozens and dozens of boosters, jets, propellers, it was equipped with the most advanced technology such as NanoBytes, Nano-machinery, Nano-weaponry such as SuperSonic Turrets, Vulcan Cannons, Nano-Missiles, life support capsules, tons of food, provision and water. The Behemoth could support more than 15 000 people for more than 50 years. Having the size of a city, spawning miles long and a mile high. It was not designed for colonizing though; it was designed to assault the Kharaa. To explore space and to find and destroy every last Kharaa there was.

8 Months after the final completion of the Behemoth. It set out to space from Earth, towards the unknown depths of space, towards Kharaa territory. With it carried exactly 15 896 TSA marines, scientists, doctors, engineers, everyone needed as they were travelling in space for at least 5 years.

Everyone was hopeful, excited, nervous and glad about the Behemoth leaving to combat the Kharaa. It was a historical moment for humanity. It was one of the proudest achievements of the TSA. Everyone felt that there was hope at last, that the Behemoth would indeed be able to defeat the Kharaa. They were wrong.

TSA 4 Star Officer Marcus was offered a chance to board the Behemoth but he turned it down, much to the confusion of others. Why would someone want to reject such a golden opportunity? Marcus had told the TSA that there is no chance of the Behemoth surviving against the Kharaa, only a fool's hope. No one heeded his advice, no one cared about what he said, no one listened to him. He was right.

7 Months after the Behemoth left Earth, all contacts with the Behemoth were lost. Everything was gone, either the Behemoth had suddenly disappeared completely, or it had been destroyed. However, it was more logical to say that the Behemoth's satellite communication system had been damaged or destroyed. Some said that the Behemoth had been sucked into a black hole, some claimed that the Behemoth had crashed into a planet, some guessed that the Behemoth must had been exposed to harmful cosmic rays which would cause all of the crew to die. No one could guess exactly what had happened to the Behemoth.

Here was the last transmission with the Behemoth 11 minutes before all contact were lost.

"Burt here, how does it look from Behemoth?"
"Hmmm....same thing, some strange unknown planets which we can probably never ever reach."
"Fine, I asked you, how did it looked."
"Listen Burt, it’s just that.....I miss home, I miss you, I miss my parents. I really didn't know why I decided to leave on the Behemoth. It’s so.....lonely."
"Ain't there thousands of others with you?"
"Yeah, but I don't get to meet all of them, and it just isn't as warm as home"
"You chose it yourself, Doofus"
"Don't call me Doofus, its a silly name"
"Fine, so you were saying, it would take at least another 2 years before you come back?"
"Uh huh"
"No kidding?"
"Nope, anyway, ya know, I just have this baaaaddddd feeling something terrible is gonna happen today."
"Touch wood"
"No, seriously. Its that....its like a sixth sense to you"
"Wow, I am so 'amazed' "
"Yeah right"
"I am! Seriously"
"Only a fool would believe you"
"A fool like you?"
"Who are you trying to kid? Me?"
"Yes, you"
"And guess what? Its working"
"Good, anyway, have I told you that your idol, Rock'R Roy is dead?"
"..............."
"Hey are you there?"
"..............."
"Hellllllloooooooo?"
"..............."
"Doofus?"
"..............."
"Hello? Do you copy? Its Burt"
"..............."
"Com'mon man, just because I called you Doofus doesn't mean you have to...."
~static~

That was the end of the last transmission and it ended suddenly, without a goodbye, without any hints to what had happened next, without any hints to the very fate of the Behemoth and its crew of 15 896 who were never seen again.

Little did man know that the very weapons they would build to defeat the Kharaa would be the very weapons that they would have to face. Little did they know it was a weapon, which would almost wipe humanity out.

Fire_Eel · February 2004

Chapter 1 - Lost In Space

The Disaster Awaits………

Time : 1600
Location : Near the moon
Status : An unknown object appeared from behind the moon and began heading directly for Earth. It has only recently been identified as the missing Behemoth, which had been missing for 7 months.

A mysterious dark shape hidden under the moon’s shadow approached Earth steadily. It was bigger than any of the bases on the moon, and dwarfed even the gigantic craters on the moon. But it was no metor, as several small blaring lights flashed repeatedly on the tail of the dark shape. As the dark shape slowly passed by the moon, the rays of the sun fell on the shadow and slowly, it was transformed into a gigantic spaceship - a spaceship the size of a city. Called the 'Behemoth', it moved rapidly in space, waiting for unlucky humans to find it.

From a faraway place, a smaller spaceship known as the EX-200 headed towards the Behemoth swiftly. Little did the crew of the EX-200 know the disaster that they were heading directly towards.

Inside the 25-metre spaceship, Commander Reza stood on the main bridge rallying his troops. "Ok team, you know what to do. As Frontiersmen of the TSA, we need to do this fast and efficiently. As soon as we arrive on BH, we spread out, check for any survivors and direct BH back to Earth." Surrounding him was about twenty Light-Armor Marines, some nervous, some excited, but all felt a weird ominous feeling that the mission wasn't going to be as easy as they think. With a battle scar on his cheek, a skull-like face and two small beady eyes, Commander Reza looked devious. However, he wasn't really as fearsome as he looked.

Stella, the officer in charge of communications with BH yawned and laid back on her chair lazily, when static formed on a screen in front of her. "Oh!" Stella exclaimed as leaned forward and stared carefully at the screen. "Commander?"

Reza stopped his commands as he quickly marched to Stella. "Yes, any response from BH yet?" Reza asked, half expecting a 'no' answer.
"No, apparently not. Its weird, its not been very long since BH left Earth. But since then, all contact have been lost. I have tried, re-tried, and kept trying and trying but I just couldn't get a response. Its almost as if BH itself is dead. Any ideas, comm?" She asked, worried.

"Negative" Reza walked away, but as he stared from a screen showing BH, a drop of sweat formed on his forehead. He could tell there was something wrong with the Behemoth, something evil. It was like a sixth sense, that his instincts were telling him not to go near the Behemoth, that Behemoth was a spaceship of doom………..

"COMMANDER!!!" Stella was now jerking his arm.
"Yes, yes, what?!" Reza asked, irritated.
"I called you thrice, and......hey, why are you sweating so much?" Stella asked in concern.

Ten minutes soon passed and the EX-200 has gotten very close to BH. The gigantic spaceship dominated the much smaller spaceship like a human compared to an ant. An aura of mystery surrounded the metropolis-like spaceship.

Sitting on a small foldable ramp, the handsome blond known as Jack could not help but felt delighted at going to the Behemoth. It was his dream to go on the Behemoth many months ago, but due to his low rank, he was neither selected nor allowed to go on the Behemoth. As he continued gazing at Behemoth from a window to the side, a well-built man approached him. "Yo" A Marine with a space helmet and a jetpack sat next to him.

"Mike?" Jack turned to face his friend.
Mike sat down for a moment before he replied, "Yeah?"
"What's with that dorky looking helmet?" Jack asked, half-jokingly.
"To allow me to survive in space" Mike answered with a grin.
Jack frowned, "Yea, Commander Reza was telling us to equip ourselves with the helmet in 5 minutes time"
Mike suddenly held up another similar-looking helmet as he said, "You better put one on your bonehead now"
"Why?" Jack asked in surprise.
"Just do it, here, I already selected one for you" Mike forcfully pushed the offending object into Jack's hands.
"Thanks" Jack remarked with a tone of sarcarsim in his voice.
"So.....that's Behemoth?" Mike asked, ignoring Jack's remark.
Jack smiled, "Yup, gorgeous isn't it?"
"Apparently, several months ago, Earth lost all contact with the BH" Mike began to bring up his memories from before.
Jack frowned again, "Any chance of a Kharaa Invasion?"
"It's highly unlikely," Mike began to explain. "The ship is far too powerful. It comes with onboard weapons, dozens of Purified Hydrogen Bombs, hundreds of Vulcan Cannons and....."

Their conversation was cut short by a loud metallic buzz. A large hatch on the outerwall of Behemoth flipped open, and an enormous Sonic Cannon unfolded out of the open hole. A small light on it flickered, the sound of its battery charging up could be clearly heard. It rise up high and turned to aim at the EX-200 moving towards it.

"What the....." Reza exclaimed in bewilderment.

The Sonic Cannon fired a shockwave at the EX-200, dealing a direct hit. Half of the EX-200 exploded, sending many of the people flying out screaming. Stella grabbed a metal bar as she was being pulled out into space. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the metal bar loosened, and almost immediately, it broke. With nothing to hold on to, the once-cheerful TSA Officer gave a final scream as she was sucked right into space. Stella was never seen again. Only those that had helmets and jetpacks could survive in the vacuum of space.

Half a minute later, the entire EX-200 explodes into a huge fireball, engulfing and incinerating
the rest of the crew alive. Having destroyed the apparent threat, the Sonic Cannon unfolded back
into the hatch, ignoring the many dying marines and burning debris in space drifting about aimlessly.

The EX-200 has been obliterated.

Scent of Death

Jack and Mike used their jetpacks and launched themselves at BH. The moment they got a firm grip on BH's outerwall, they pulled open an emergency hatch. Carefully propelling themselves into the ship, they arrived at an airlock. Mike punched a button at the control circuit and the emergency hatch slowly closed with the sound of compressed gas being released. Taking off their helmets and dumping their burnt-out JetPacks away, Jack and Mike stared, wide-eye at each other, what just happened?

Jack was sweating heavily as he leaned down, this was a situation he had never experienced and he went hysterical.

"Oh god........oh my god!" Jack cried in distraught over the previous events.
"Jesus, BH was hostile!" Mike remarked, no less shocked.
"Everyone died, Mike!" Jack shouted. "Everyone!"
"Yes, I know" Mike grumbled.
"DON'T YOU GET IT?! WE ARE LEFT ALONE OUT HERE!" Jack screamed.
Mike remained calm, "Cool down! The TSA trained us for situations like this, now what we have to do is to look for survivors and try to get back to Earth."
Jack "Oh god, Stella.......she's gone, I saw her get pulled out into space but I could do nothing......................."

Tears swelled at Jack's eyes as he went down on his knees.

"Jack, listen, it wasn't your fault, no one, not even Commander Reza had predicted this!" Mike desperately tried to calm down his fellow comrade.
"But......why would BH attack us?" Jack asked.
"I don't know, unless........" Mike stopped suddenly, as the truth suddenly dawned on him.

Jack and Mike stared at each other, both knowing what it could mean. They reloaded and checked all their weapons, their sidearm, their equipment, when all was done, they set out together. Mike lifted the cold handle of a security door and pushed forward. The door creaked loudly as it slowly opened.

Impatiently, Jack kicked open the door. Darkness laid ahead, a place of darkness that he did not knew. Taking a deep breath, the two of them lurched forward and gasped, for they had entered an enormous hanger far bigger than their ex-spaceship. It was taller than the tallest tree they had ever seen. It was wider than the biggest shopping center. It was longer than they could describe, for they could not actually see this place well. The hanger looked like it had not been used for months and a pungent smell was everywhere. Under the errie darkness of this mysterious place, Jack and Mike slowly inched forward, trying not to bump into anything. They unknowingly walked past a half-eaten human hand in a puddle of blood.

Switching on their flashlights, Mike and Jack begun searching for a door or a switch. The air was still and the place was quiet. There was an ominous feeling, as if something bad would happen.
There was also an extremely weird stench, as if......it was from something unhuman. Worse of all, the area smelled of death. They couldn't wait to get out of this cursed place.

Soon, they had found a switch and flicked it on quickly. The lights flickered repeatedly several times, and illuminated the entire hanger, making it smaller than what it had seemed at first glance.

All of a sudden, smoked emerged from the edge of a security door in the distance and it flew open. Amidst the smoke, Jack and Mike could make out the shape of two humans rolling out and sprawling on the floor, groaning in pain.

It was Sophie and Jeff.

"Thank goodness! You guys are alive too!" Sophie cried in relief as she looked up.
"Am I more glad to see your ugly face, Mike!" Jeff exclaimed with a grin.
Jack bent down and pulled the two of them up as he asked, "Jesus, are you guys hurt?"
"What a relief, lets hope we are not the only ones who survived." Mike smiled and said.

The hanger was noisy with murmurs of comfort as everyone tried to analysis the situation : They were now trapped in a huge unknown spaceship. They did not know if there was any more survivors other than them, they did not know if there were anyone else, they did not know if there was a Kharaa invasion or not. However, one thing was certain : Something was very wrong.

As they begun a discussion and tried to think of a plan, no one realized they were not alone. There was another creature in the same hanger as them, cloaked it was, and monstrously big, ready to pick on anyone who scattered.

"Eh?" Jeff turned his head, he could had sworn he heard something, it could have been a drop of water, or a footstep. Whatever it was, he was sure that there was something.

As Jeff slowly backed away and looked up, trying to gaze at the entire hanger. However, he could see nothing but cranes, crates, boxes, lifts..........

A drop of saliva dripped on his head.

"Huh?" Jeff begun but before he could even finished his sentence, a huge creature uncloaked itself behind his back. It chomped on him and lifted him into the air.

Everyone heard a loud muffed scream and turning around, they saw the biggest Onos they had ever seen. Jeff's legs were sticking out of its mouth and kicking crazily. 4-metres high and 7-metres long, the gigantic Onos let out a grunt and swung its head, Jeff was flung many metres away. He smashed into the wall with a sickening 'crunch' sound and fell down on the hard ground, revealing rows after rows of fresh bite marks, all from the same jaw on his back.

Jeff never got up again.

Creature From Hell

The gigantic Onos let out a terrifyingly loud battle cry and charged at everyone. Mike, Sophie and Jack dashed out of the way as the Onos charged past them, completing trampling several smaller crates in the way.

Everyone could only stared in awe and shock at the Onos sheer might and power.

As Mike ran, the Onos stormed after him. "MIKE!!! BEHIND YOU!!!" Sophie screamed. Mike rolled away at the right moment, narrowly dodging the Onos deadly horns as it rammed into several tall metal crates, smashing them completely.

The Onos now turned and face Sophie, blood dripping down its jaws, almost smiling. "Oh my god....." Sophie muttered and she froze as the Onos charged at her.

"Sophie! Run!" Jack cried in alarm. Summoning his courage and strength, Mike leapt and grabbed Sophie just as Onos went past them......towards Jack's direction.

Jack jumped away, just in time to avoid getting impaled but the Onos mighty body slammed into him and he flew away, hitting a crate and falling unconscious on the floor.

As Sophie desperately punched a button repeatedly and the door to an emergency lift began sliding open, Mike sped towards Jack. The Onos stamped its feet loudly as it made its way to Jack's body.

"DIE BEAST!" Sophie screamed as she unloaded her entire LMG clip into the Onos head. Bullets after bullets hit and bounced off the Onos armored head. The LMG had completely no effect against such a mighty creature.

Mike pulled Jack's body away just in time as the Onos jaws slammed shut in mid air. It let out a roar of rage as Mike slumped Jack onto his shoulder and dashed at the lift as fast as his legs could take him. The Onos got ready to charge as it stamped its feet, and when it did charged, it moved at a unbelievable speed with amazing power directly at the lift. Sophie was already in the lift, looking at the Onos charging reminded her of a train.

Mike hurled Jack's body at her waiting arms and he dived right into the lift as the doors slide close just in time. The Onos rammed into the thick lift door, forming a huge dent. Unfortunately, its might was monstrous and even the thick lift door couldn't last for long. Sophie and Mike began praying to dear god that the lift could move up fast enough. The lift began rising up, and Sophie managed to let out a weak smile.

At this moment, the Onos bored its nose horn through the lift door and pulled the door off the lift. It then sent the crumpled piece of metal flying away.

"NO!!! GET AWAY!!!" Sophie screamed and kicked her legs at the Onos face while Mike stared, eyes wide with fear. The Onos stuck its entire head into the lift and jammed the lift. It opened its jaws wide, rows of sharp yellow teeth filled with saliva lined its great jaw and it lurched forward, ready to swallow the person closest to it : Jack. Staring at the Onos blood-thirsty eyes and disgusting saliva dripping down, Sophie trembled with fear while she punched the "up" button at the lift over and over again.

Mike unholstered his sidearm Pistol and pumped several rounds into the Onos open mouth. The Onos felt pain streaking up its throat and grunting in pain, it stepped back. Now the lift could move up at last. As the Onos faded from view, Mike and Sophie sighed in relief. Seeing that its preys have escaped, the 10-tonnes Onos let out a final roar of anger and turned to eat the still-fresh body of Jeff. It was going to kill and eat the humans who escaped from it. Oh yes, it was going to kill every single human it ever sees.

Sweat dripped down Mike and Sophie, and they were so drained of their strength that they simply slumped onto each other and laid there like a bunch of corpses.

How long more could they survive? Why would they agree to go on such a crazy mission? These were the questions going through Sophie's mind before she finally closed her tired eyes..........................

In this hellish place, they were the hunted and the Kharaa, were the hunters.

zooby · February 2004

Dude, don't post that monster here! It will eat us all (although we don't oppose the idea) Put it on your own site or something...

Drfuzzy · February 2004

oooo i like

starts to lose intrest once they get in, seems almost repeditive

Fire_Eel · February 2004

Chapter 2 – Invasion

Tex

The lift took forever to go up, and neither Mike nor Sophie bothered to do anything. They continued to lie against the wall, staring down blankly. What hope was there for them? Memories of their families and friends flashed across their mind as they smiled at the thought of the happy times they had together……….

A sudden jolt sent Sophie jerking up. "Ugh......what happened?" Jack moaned in pain as he rubbed his head with a clammy hand.

"Jack! You are awake!" Sophie cried in relief.
"Blood!" Jack exclaimed loudly as he stared at his palm which was covered in fresh blood.
"Thank Mike, he risked his life to save you." Jack glanced at Mike who was smiling like a hero would, and flashbacks of when Mike had saved his life when he was attacked by a Skulk went through his mind.

It was their first mission together. Jack, Mike, Hoz and squad leader, Sarutobi. An ill-fated mission it was, for the superiors who arranged this mission never expected the abandoned Pol Satellite Facility to be Kharaa-infested. It was originally a simple mission. The satellite facility had not been used for years, and there were traces of refugees taking shelter there. They were to locate the refugees and direct them to Earth. It was a mistake. No refugees were found, except for the dead bodies, and a small group of Kharaas.

They were not very well equipped, no one expected any Kharaa. The only person armed was Sarutobi, just a Light Machine Gun. Afterall, they were supposed to find harmless refugees, not stumble on deadly Kharaa. What's more, they had never even seen Kharaa before, except, perhaps for the simulations or holographs of these deadly creatures.

The door to the interior building seemed dark and mysterious, yet they were told nothing dangerous lingered inside. Unfortunately for them, as soon as the four of them entered the door, they were attacked. The reception desk looked relatively harmless, at least that was until a large green inhuman form leapt from the desk and hit Hoz. He fell, with blood splashing about and never got up again. What followed on was beyond their control. Two more monsters leapt out of nowhere and ripped Sarutobi apart. He didn't even have time to shoot.

From his deepest memory, Jack remembered these monsters vaguely from the many pictures they had seen before. But that would not save his life. This isn’t a simple test or simulation anymore. This was real.

A monster jumped at Jack and he screamed and closed his eyes. There were sudden gunshots and chaos took over. It was as if the whole place was a battlefield. When he opened his eyes again, all three monsters laid dead on the floor. Blood was scattered about and Mike was crouched on the floor, LMG in one hand, and his other hand was covered with deep wounds and fresh blood. But he saved Jack. It wasn't until much later that Jack learned those monsters were called 'Skulks'

Even until now, Jack still shuddered at the thought of the monstrous Skulks and their inhuman dog-like shapes. Their teeth and claw, ready to rip a human being apart.

"I will clean your wound later, now lets go, this is dangerous territory" Sophie said grimly.
"What exactly was that Kharaa which attacked us?" Jack questioned despite knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
"Something which looks like an Onos. Only that no Onos ever gets so bloody big" Sophie replied, pondering over the exact nature of the creature.
"By the way, where are we?" Jack remarked, as he look around at the strange squarish-enclosed area with a opening at the side.
"An emergency lift that had its door destroyed by a giant Kharaa" Mike answered as he stood up.

BLAM!!! BLAM!!! BLAM!!!
"HEY WHAT THE!?" Mike shouted in shock as he barely evaded several bullets that narrowly whizzed past his head.

Bending down, Jack and Sophie raised their Light Machine Guns as they did not know what was ahead of the lift.

"GET AWAY!!! GET AWAY!!! ARGH!!!!!" The screams of a hysterical man could be heard, it was a scream of shock and fear.

"Whoever it is, we are not hostile." Sophie assured the screaming man. "Lower your gun, we won't hurt ya." Jack shouted. Carefully, all three of them took a peek. It turned out to be Tex.
"Tex! You are alive!" Sophie cried happily as she ran up to him and gasped.

Tex's whole face was dripping with sweat, his eyes were bulging, he was panting like a dog and there was a huge bite wound on his leg. "Oh my god, what happened?" Mike curiously asked.

"They....they....they are dead! They are all dead! Ohhhh....." Tex cried out as he sobbed uncontrollably and knelt down on the floor. Obviously, Tex had went through something nightmarish and must had seen his teammates died in front of him. He too must had been attacked, which explained the bite mark on his leg. "Take it easy, we are here with you" Jack tried to console Tex. A dull red light accompanied the unfavouring situation.

"Shall I....clean that wound?" Sophie nervously asked, afraid of Tex's outburst. "I...I....NO!!! NO!!! DON'T COME NEAR ME!!! DON'T COME NEAR ME!!! NOOO!!!!" Tex screamed like a mad man as he suddenly collapsed to the floor and desperately crawled away from the three like a dog. "Relax Tex, we are just......" Mike tried to reassure him. "GO AWAY!!!" Tex shouted angrily as he pointed his pistol at Mike's face. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Tex had now turned into a lunatic, pointing his gun at everyone and sobbing and cursing.

"Fine....fine.....we will leave you alone then." Mike raised his hand in a no-threat signal as he slowly back off.
"Let's go" Jack turned the other direction and began walking away while rubbing his head.
"But we can't leave him here!" Sophie wailed.
"So what do you expect us to do? Take him with us? He's a goddamned lunatic for pity's sake! He could shoot us all!" Mike uttered angrily as he too joined Jack. "This is no time to take care of insane people. We have to move on!"
Sophie took a final look at Tex, her old flame, her old lover, the lunatic who was now beyond hope. "Goodbye Tex" Sophie said her final goodbye as she shed a tear and followed Jack and Mike.

"Hey Mike, fill me in on what happened just now" Jack began a conversation with Mike as the three of them opened a door and entered a menacing long corridor. Long pipes and silver metal tubes hanged over their head.

"Hey! What's that?!" Mike shouted in alert as he raised his LMG and fired at a small green creature. The creature jumped into the air and leapt away into a vent faster than the human eye could see. "Lets go!" Mike shouted as the three of them dashed to where the creature previously was.

At the very spot where the creature was, there was now several bullet holes and a small puddle of greenish-yellowish blood. "Yup, definitely Kharaa." Mike studied the blood and came to a conclusion.
"Skulk?" Sophie said with a guess.
Mike dipped a finger into the blood as he replied "Probably, I think we......"

An inhuman screech came from inside the vent near them and the three of them raised their guns as they jumped up in a hurry.

All of a sudden, everyone heard a ear-piercing scream came from where they had just left from. It was Tex screaming.

Ambush

"Oh my god, Tex!" Sophie mumbled in fright.
"What the hell are you waiting for?! Lets go save him!" Jack shouted as he and Mike sprinted as fast as they could back to the room where they had left Tex. Sophie chased after them, completely neglecting the fact that there was a Skulk in the vent near them. The screams continued on.

After seconds of running, Sophie caught up with Mike and Jack, who were standing speechless in front of a closed door. "What are the two of you waiting for? Open it! Tex is on the other side!" Sophie snarled impatiently.
"Sophie, I hate to tell you this, but the door is locked." Jack turned to face Sophie with the I-am-sorry-look. Despite knowing that the door was locked, Sophie tried with all her strength to pull the handle but it was locked tight, no way of breaking through. Determined not to give up, Sophie begun kicking the door furiously but all she did was hurt her feet.
"SCREW THIS DOOR!" Sophie begun cursing as she pumped rounds after rounds of pistol lead into the door despite knowing it was Nano-Protected.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Mike roared angrily as he grabbed Sophie's shoulders and jerked her several times.
"LET ME GO YOU CREEP!!! " Sophie screamed.
"Do you know what you sound like?! A madman!" lectured Mike as he stopped.
"Not madman, you mean madwoman." corrected Jack.
"Shut up!" Mike yelled in anger.

Amidst the quarrel, Tex’s scream had died down at last. An un-natural silence suddenly took over the atmosphere.

"Say.....why has Tex gone all quiet?" Jack reminded the two of them.
"Oh no......we're too late!" Sophie wailed as she came down on her knees.
"Crap. The Kharaa must had got him already" Mike exclaimed in frustration.
"Its all my fault, my fault! I should never have left him back there" mumbled Sophie as tears began rolling down her cheeks.
"Listen....its not your fault, its just that....ugh....." Mike suddenly remembered the talk he had with Jack much earlier on.
"Shhh....guys, I am trying to listen," Jack had now placed his ear on the locked door, trying to hear what's on the other side.

There appeared to be some light tapping sounds, followed by a snorting, and an inhuman screech, sounding almost exactly like what the three of them heard from the vent just now. "THE VENT!" Jack screamed as the 3 of them looked back far ahead to the corridor and the vent in which they had saw and heard the Skulk.

"CHRIST...........the vent which the Skulk leapt into must lead directly to the room where we left Tex," Jack sighed as he scratched dried blood off his head and face. "Now that I think of it, I think I saw a vent beside the lift just now."

Feeling hopeless and guilty, the 3 slumped down ahead of the locked door. This mission was a mistake, a terrible mistake, a foolish choice which all three of them made, already they had witnessed so many deaths. Already..............

"GUYS!" Jack jumped up as he suddenly remembered something.
"What?!" Mike half-heartedly asked.
Pointing a finger back at the corridor, Jack shouted, "Have all of you forgotten?! If we heard the Skulk screeched at the vent beside us just now, how could the skulk run to Tex and attack him almost immediately?"

Mike and Sophie stared white-faced at Jack. What he said certainly made sense, this would probably mean..........there are two Skulks!

It was also at this precise moment that the Skulk decided to strike. There was a loud 'tap' followed by a snarl and Jack fell forward, hitting the floor hard as a Skulk leapt on him. "NO!" Jack screamed as the Skulk opened its mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth and he closed his eyes in horror. Suddenly, a loud shriek was heard and the Skulk was off him.

Mike had kicked the Skulk away and now it leapt at Sophie. Sophie raised her hands to defend herself and the Skulk's clawed foot slashed her arm. Screaming in pain, she waved her hands wildly and hit the Skulk in the face, making it even madder. Mike unholstered his sidearm pistol and fired three clean shots at the Skulk's back.

The Skulk snarled loudly in pain and it leapt up on the ceiling with great agility. Holding his LMG clumsily, Jack fired wild shots at the Skulk. Incredibly even when upside down, the Skulk could dance to and fro as it dodged all of the bullets. It now made a leap for Mike and knocked him down. Jumping on Mike, the Skulk prepared to bite.

Unfortunately for the Skulk, its throat was directly above the nozzle of Mike’s pistol. Mike pulled the trigger. There was a loud gunshot and a fine mist of blood sprayed onto everyone. The Skulk’s body swayed a little and collapsed, now lying motionless on Mike's chest.

Mike kicked the Skulk's body to the side and pointed his pistol at it a final time to confirm that it was indeed dead. Seeing its lifeless eyes and the blood-filled hole in its head, Mike reloaded and kept his pistol.

There was a huge cut on Jack’s chest plate though his body was barely hurt. His Nano-Armor had saved his life. Mike too didn't suffer much injury except for a painful back and some cuts on his armor. Sophie however wasn't so lucky, she now had a huge gash on the back of her hand and was bleeding badly. For such a painful wound however, Sophie was holding it well and didn't cry or scream like she usually did. "Ugh, Mike, this is disgusting. Your face is covered in Skulk blood," Jack exclaimed as he pointed at Mike's face.

Mike stood up and immediately screamed in pain as a cloaked Skulk had suddenly leapt on his back and sank its claws into his unarmored shoulder.

Inferno

Screaming in pain, Mike struggled with the ambushing Skulk as he blindly stumbled around, crashing down next to Sophie. "MIKE!" She screamed as she watched in horror at the deadly one-side battle but could do nothing.

Utilizing a strength he didn't know he possessed, Jack gave a warcry and charged up to the Skulk, smashing its face with the butt of his Light Machine Gun, sending the Skulk sprawling on the floor. Almost immediately, Jack unloaded the rest of his LMG bullets into the fallen Skulk, ending its life.

Mike moaned as he struggled up. Fortunately for him, he was not seriously injured other than a deep cut on his left shoulder.

"Get up guys! We have no time to waste! This is a danger zone!" Jack rushed the two.
"Help us will you?! You are the only guy who’s uninjured here!" Sophie retaliated. Knowing better than to argue, Jack pulled the both of them up and leaded the two forward as they ran back to the corridor.......past the vent.......and another inhuman screech sounded from the vent.

"Oh no........" Sophie moaned, almost couldn't believing their luck.
"Watch this!" Jack whipped out a B-Grenade, pulled off its pin with a finger, and hurled the grenade deep into the vent.
"No! Wait…." Mike protested in bewilderment at Jack’s action.
"LETS GO!" Jack cried as the three sprinted forward, making sure they were well away from the blast zone. Jack constantly looked back, making sure a Skulk didn't appeared for he now knew first hand how fast it would take for a Skulk to run out and leap at them from behind.
BOOM!!!!!
The B-Grenade exploded and debris flew while an unstoppable flame raged. The shrieks of a dying creature could be heard amidst the blast explosion. An invisible wave of heat scorched the back of the three as they charged forward without stopping. An inferno now engulfed the corridor as it blazed impossibly fast towards the running three.

At last, Jack and Mike reached the other side of the corridor towards a conveniently opened door while Sophie was fast approaching with the menacing flames threatening to reach out and grab her. "Close it quick!" Mike shouted. Sophie sped through and slammed the door behind her in time.

Everyone stood away from the door as part of it melted into a strange burning dark substance under the burning fire. Luckily, the flame soon subsided and they were now safe. "Jack......next time, DON'T THROW A DAMN GRENADE SO CLOSE TO OURSELVES!!! GET IT?!" Mike roared into Jack's face angrily as Sophie stood at a corner, too drained of her strength to even bother.

"Guys, we have arrived at the Shaft Room D" said Sophie as she stared at a 'Shaft Room D' sign. Apparently, they were now in a T-Shaped room with 5 doors. They was also 2 potted plants but both had decayed badly, one even had a weird greenish-yellowish fern or algae growth on it. Mike stared at the potted plant in alarm - Bacterium.

"Guys, I do not know what we are supposed to do but I do know where we are supposed to go now," Sophie said as she pointed at a Girl's Toilet Room. "You guys go the boy's toilet while I go the girl's toilet" Sophie turned and headed for the girl's toilet but Jack held her non-injured hand suddenly. "Huh?" Sophie uttered in surprise.
"What……is he doing?" She thought nervously as she blushed and turned her head slowly to look at the handsome blond in front of her known as Jack. "Yes?" Sophie asked slowly.

"Come with us to the guy's toilet, if you go to the girl's toilet alone, you may get attacked" Jack replied and turning away sharply, heading for the boy's toilet. ".............................." Sophie almost couldn't believe what just happened. "I think I will use the girl's toilet ALONE!" Sophie shouted as she ran into the girl's toilet without turning back, leaving Jack puzzled. Was it something he said?

Mike gasped when he entered the toilet, for he saw a vent on the ceiling. Also, the boy's toilet was amazingly clean and dry, as if it had never been used. Even the floor was polished, the mirrors were un-stained and he could see a faint reflection of himself on the walls.

"GUYS!!!!!!!" Sophie screamed suddenly. Thinking that something terrible had happened, Jack and Mike charged into the girl's toilet as fast as they could. Bacterium growths were everywhere, on the basin, on the toilet bowl, in the dustbin. Also, there were cockroaches, a lot of cockroaches were crawling everywhere. The Bacterium growth led all the way up to the vent on the ceiling. "I didn't know the Kharaa was so perverted!" Jack remarked loudly as he made his way back to the boy's toilet and Mike and Sophie followed closely behind.

Sophie, Mike and Jack now stared suspiciously at the vent on the ceiling in the boy's toilet. There was something suspicious about the vent, and they could hear faint voices from deep inside whenever they listened carefully. After a while though, they dismissed the vent as being dangerous and took turns to use the cubicles.

"Hey Sophie, if you wanna undress in front of us, we won't mind!" Mike sniggled as he dashed into an unused cubicle before Sophie could catch him while Jack laughed loudly.
"I can't believe you creeps......" Sophie complained. How could they joke in a time like this?!

She stared at the vent with a LMG in her hand, ready to pump in a lot of lead into anything inhuman that comes out of the vent. Deep in her mind though, she remembered Tex's screams, the look on his face and the happy times they had together.

The group took a rest, dressed and cleaned their wounds, checked and reloaded their weapons. Luckily for them, Sophie had several packs of MREs with her, though that was the only ration they had left. They quickly finished up all the MREs. Surprisingly too, the water supply was still around and the water was so clean, the group could drink the tapwater.

Finally, Mike felt that they had enough rest and he was the first to leave the boy's room. As soon as Sophie and Jack had got out as well, Mike pinched their shoulders, placed a finger on his lips for the keep-quiet sign, and with his hands, did a follow-me signal. Although they did not understand what was going on, Jack and Sophie followed Mike as he crept to the wall beside the girl's toilet.

The three could clearly hear flapping sounds from inside the girl's toilet.

Fire_Eel · February 2004

Chapter 3 – Reunion

Lerk Attack

"What's that?" whispered Jack as he stroked his Light Machine Gun. Mike and Sophie stared at Jack as if they were staring at a geek. "What?" Jack asked uneasily.
"Don't you know? Obviously it’s a Lerk! Haven't you ever encountered one before?!" Mike whispered, stunned.
"No" Jack looked away, as if he was hiding something.
"Jack, I will have a serious talk with you after this is over" Mike exclaimed sternly.

In response to Mike’s reply, Jack looked down at the floor silently, as if in deep thoughts.

"Follow me, you two" Mike whispered as he sneaked away from the girl's toilet stealthily.
"Why do we need to run away from Lerks?" Jack questioned.
"Oooh.....for heaven's sake, you wouldn't want to face a Lerk head on" Sophie uttered quietly as she rubbed her injured hand.

Arriving at a metal door labeled Virgo Office C, Mike tried pulling the handle only to have the handle give out a 'chic click' sound. Locked.

Mike turned the other way and sneaked to another metal door labeled Taurus Welfare. He tried pulling the handle, it was locked as well! Mike couldn't believe his luck, the last place to go to is another door which was at least eight metres away from them. Mike headed towards the door and stopped. Sounds could be heard from Taurus Welfare room, whatever it was, Mike placed his ear on the metal door and listened.

There was a scream, a scream of agony. Mike hurrily backed away from the door and almost immediately, it burst open and a marine stumbled out screaming and collapsed to the floor. One look at him told everyone something was very wrong with him.

The marine's face was mutilated beyond recognition. His hair was falling, his skin was peeling off, worst of all, his face was melting and rotting away rapidly. Even his Nano-Armor had been corroded too much to serve as any form of protection. He moaned in agony and seemed to utter "help". The three stared at the doomed marine in fear and shock, Mike knew only one thing could have caused this to him : Spore from a Lerk.

It was also at this moment that a greenish partially-transparent cloud floated out, or rather, it burst out from the open door so quickly that if Mike haven't pulled Jack away, the cloud would had got him. Jack knew instinctively that this was what they called 'Spore'. The spore rapidly engulfed the dying marine and he let out a final scream before the spore completely covered him. Now blocked from their view, neither the marine nor his remains were ever seen again.

At this point, a loud high-pitched cackling cry could be hear amidst the thick cloud of spore. Several similar high-pitched cackles could be heard echoing through the girl's toilet and the entire Shaft Room D. Sophie and Mike both knew this was the hunting cry of Lerks which they used to communicate with one another when prey have been found. In this case, the three of them were the prey.

"LET'S GO!!! NOW NOW NOW!!!" Mike cried as he grabbed Sophie's and Jack's hand as they charged to the last door. Mike kicked the door and it flew open. "GO GO GO!!!" Mike shouted and the three scrambled forward as fast as lighting. Now in a rather long and plain looking room with tables, chairs and cardboards, they sped towards the closest door and rammed it open, never stopping for even a second.

Meanwhile, flapping sounds and the same cackling cries of the Lerks could be heard right behind them. They ran on and ran on, past rooms, pass supplies, pass computers, through doors. Finally, the three stopped at the Cargo Transfer Room beside a small glass box with a button and a warning sign on it. The sign read 'Warning : Emergency Shu......' Mike didn't have time to read it all and punched the glass box.

'Beep Beep Beep' alarm signals echoed through the room and an enormous red blast door began sliding down from the ceiling. A glaring red light flashed at their faces.

"Let's go!" Sophie urged them and they continued forward. Jack however, ran for a while and couldn't help but looked behind. The blast door was still sliding down, it was only 2 metres from the ground, 1.5 metres, 1 metre, 0.5 metre, 0.4 metre, 0.3 metre................

A cackling cry alerted everyone and a Lerk approached from the distance. Sensing that their preys were escaping, it flapped its wings and glided into the air. It then swooped down swiftly in a 45-degree angle with lighting speed. The blast door was only 0.2 metre from the ground when the Lerk swooped under it............and got trapped. It was too big to get through and as the door continued proceeding downwards.

The Lerk struggled wildly and let out a high-pitched scream as it was crushed under the blast door with a disgusting 'squash' sound. 'Wham!' The blast door closed down completely at last, and greenish-yellow blood along with the membrane of a wing was sticking out. "Ugh, that stinks" Sophie complained as they left the room.

At long last, they had arrived at a large globe-shaped room with an enormous orb in the middle, labeled Topogeography Room. "Let's rest here" groaned Jack as he crouched down onto the cold floor.

"Jack, tell me the truth, are you really a Sergeant?" Mike crouched down beside Jack.
"Yes, of course I am! After all, only Sergeants and above were allowed to participate in the retrieval of BH" Jack replied.
"I don't believe you, many months ago when we were both Privates and I saved your life from Skulks, you acted stupidly. Just now when we were attacked once again, you acted the same way as before. Not only that, you threw a B-Grenade so close to us that it endangered our lives. You did not know what was a Lerk, you did not behaved appropriately when the Lerks attacked us" Mike questioned again, looking hard at Jack.

Jack moved away immediately but Mike grabbed his shoulder. "Tell me, are you or are you not a Sergeant? Look at my eyes! Tell me the secret code assigned to all the Sergeants or above for this mission!"
Jack's heart skipped a beat, and he swallowed his breath. "I....I....forgot" He answered quietly and looked down.
"There never was a secret code you fool!" Sophie cut in.
"So.....you are not a Sergeant then, then what's your rank? Look at me!" Mike dominated over the trembling Jack as he repeatedly probed Jack for an answer.
"Fine, I will tell you the truth then. I...I....am......a Private" Jack shot out his answer and looked away guiltily.
"Jack.....why? Why do you do it? Why trick us? Why go on such a difficult mission when you do not yet have the experience?" Sophie shook her head, almost couldn't believing the words coming out of Jack's mouth.

"Mike" Jack looked up. "We were both Privates then, we both braved dangers together, we both took the tests, we both were buddies, but.......you out-shined me, you were a much better marine than I was. You were stronger, smarter, and tougher. Pretty soon, we took the promotion tests. You passed with flying colours. I failed....miserably. I lied to you, I told you I passed and was assigned to another squad. I couldn't bear to tell you, or face you and said that I had failed. I.....I....I didn't wanted to lag behind while everyone I knew went on.......I also.....wanted very much to board the Behemoth but I wasn't allowed to......so I bought a false Sergeant pass and badge from the black market. I went on the EX-200, no one noticed there was an extra marine on the team, no one could tell I was the odd one out, that I was a Private. I was glad then, that no one had discovered my true identity, that you were on the same spaceship and could help me. It was a mistake, I now realized that.....I never was meant for a mission like this. I.....I.....I......am so sorry, Mike. I am so sorry I lied to you Mike. I didn't want to really trick the two of you. Please, forgive me"

Their conversion was interrupted when the door on the side slide open, and no one else but the great Commander Reza and another marine walked through. "Gentlemen, am I interrupting?" He asked with a sly grin.

The Briefing

For a brief moment, all three of them were utterly stunned as they stared, dumbfounded at Reza and the marine.

"Commander Reza!" Jack, Sophie and Mike cried gladly at once. The one man capable of leading them to victory, to defeat the Kharra, to escape out of the cursed place.
"I have come back to you guys now, for I am not so easily killed in battle" Reza announced, smiling.

"I heard the conversation just now, it was.....kinda touching, actually, you know? Private....." Commander Reza glanced at Jack's false Sergeant badge "Jack, I suppose. Is that your name?"
Jack nodded his head, feeling ashamed.
"Do not worry, although what you did is certainly punishable in the code of the FrontiersMen, I will not report this matter to my higher-ups"
Jack smiled in relief.
"If we ever get out of BH alive that is" Reza added.

The marine next to Reza stood forward, "I guess I should introduce myself. I supposed all of you have heard the last transmission between BH and Earth. There was a person named Burt, that's me"
As the group shook hands with each other, Reza interrupted again "People, this is no time for such formalities. As every of you can see on this map" Reza begun, pointing at a map showing the layout of Behemoth. "We are right now, on the second level, Topogeography Room. What we need to do, is to get onto Sub-Command Room on third level, which won't be easy. We will go there by this way" Reza scratched a line on the map showing the path which they will be going by. "We will pass by a Resource Nozzle, and go all the way till we reach the lift. We move up, go all the way to Sub-Control Room. Currently, I have uploaded the layout of BH into my Mini-Map. Until then, we must all stay as one. I do not know if there are anymore survivors other than us, I hope there is. Anyway, this is the plan for now. Understood?"

"WE GET YOU SIR!" everyone said loudly.
"Shhh.....not so loud, we do not want every Kharaa on the ship to come hunting us down" Reza replied.
"Sir" Jack raised his hand. "I should add, that on our way up here, we met a huge Kharaa species which I estimated to be at least 4 metres high. It looked almost like an Onos, and it got Jeff"
Reza's eyes widened, "If what you say is true, then we wouldn't know what else is there on BH. Be careful people, try your best not to attract any attention or you may alert the Kharaa to us, and we will be in deep trouble"

"Sir, do you know which part of space are we currently at?" Sophie questioned.
"Good question. If you see from this globe which represents the overall part of space which BH is at, you can see from the white dot at the right that it represents the moon. The red dot far away is Mars. The green dot at the direct center is BH and the blue dot facing BH is Earth. This means one thing marines" Reza exclaimed as he glanced at his watch. "It has only been three hours and seven minutes since EX-200 was destroyed. BH has passed by the moon for a couple of hours as well. That means there if BH continues on at its present velocity, there is only at least eight hours before BH lands on Earth, if that’s where BH is heading"

"A huge spaceship full of Kharaa is going to land on Earth?! The Kharaa are planning a direct invasion?! But as far as my memory goes, the Kharaa have never done something so large-scaled before!" Sophie cried, aghast.
"Precisely, and that's what worries me the most. Until then, lets set off. We have spent enough time here. Also, do not give me the We-Get-You-Crap. I have heard that for years and I am bloody tired of hearing it again. Let's go!" Reza held his Light Machine Gun up high and his fellow marines marched after him. The war was going to begin in three hours and they had to prevent it no matter what.

Attacked

“I am glad you people managed to make it so far” Reza exclaimed as he and Jack, Burt, Mike and Sophie walked together side by side.

Jack could catch glimpses of stars and vast darkness from the many huge glass windows on the wall. With every step they took, loud Clank Clank would be heard on the hard metal floor.

“Yes, it’s all thanks to the training from before, Sir” Mike replied, smiling.
“Now, now, didn’t I told you earlier I didn’t like the ‘Sir’ crap?” Reza turned to face Mike, narrowing his eyebrows.
“Yes, I mean Reza” Mike said hurrily.
“Sir, I am curious. How did you and Burt manage to make it?” Sophie asked.

From directly straight ahead, a loud shriek was heard and caught everyone’s attention. “Heads up people. Skulks” Reza said as he raised his LMG and aimed straight. “Come…..little baby…..” Reza murmured under his breath in a soft and dangerous voice. Another shriek sounded, this time directly behind them. “CRAP!!!” Reza shouted as he realized that they were trapped with Skulks on both sides.

There was a fury of loud taps and clicks and the grave thought went into everyone’s mind : Cloaked Skulks. Without a moment to lose, Reza ran to the side and rammed the nearest door open.

As everyone poured into the room, Jack see that it was a rather grand room, with several beds, cardboard and……..dried human blood on the walls. “WATCH OUT!!!” Sophie screamed suddenly.

Without any warning, the vent above everyone broke open and a Skulk leapt out. There was another loud snarl as a second Skulk approached through the door from behind. “FIRE!” Burt roared and the room suddenly turned into a battlefield as the two Skulk leapt around gracefully, easily dodging the deadly bullets.

As Burt was reloading, a Skulk suddenly rammed headfirst into him and he dropped to the ground, gasping for breath as if he had been punched in the gut. Instinctively, the Skulk bounded on the ceiling as a hailstorm of bullets showered the area where it had been standing a moment ago.

Reza sprawled to the floor as a Skulk whizzed past his head, and he turned and fired into its belly. The Skulk shrieked in pain and crashed onto the bed, never getting up again. Jack turned to see Sophie jumped back against a wall to dodge a Skulk. Immediately, he grabbed the nearest chair and hurled it into the Skulk’s path. As it leapt into the air again, the chair struck it heavily and the Skulk smashed against the floor. Everyone aimed at the Skulk and fired as it was getting up. It’s body jerked as rounds after rounds of bullet went into its body, holding it up for a second before it exploded and its tattered remains simply fell.

Greenish-Yellowish blood was covering the entire room. One Skulk laid dead on a bed with many holes all over its body. Pillows, blankets and feathers were scattered everywhere while the other Skulk had been blown into several pieces. Its body was on the floor while its leg was below a chair and foreleg on another bed. Burt slanted against a wall as several small crumpled pieces of Nano Plate dropped off his badly damaged Nano Armor.

"Burt, you all right?" Sophie asked, concerned for Burt.
"Yeah, I think I am.......URGH!!!!" Burt suddenly vomited blood and collapsed to the floor.
"BURT!" Everyone screamed as he clutched his stomach in great pain.
"Someone help him, please, also, I feel....kinda.......dizzy......" Sophie moaned as she clamped on to a metal bar with her trembling hand, she staggered for a while and fainted onto Jack's waiting arms. The gash on her hand had opened up again, and blood was dripping out slowly.

Soon, Sophie and Burt were both lifted to two clean beds and their injuries were examined, Reza realized just how serious the situation was. The Skulk had leaped directly at Burt's stomach and not only had it damaged part of Burt's Nano Armor, it had also shattered several of Burt's ribs. Meanwhile, Sophie was suffering from a loss of blood, the wound on her hand which was earlier ripped slightly by a Skulk was bandaged, however, the wound soon opened up again. Now, she began to sweat profusely as she mumbled indistinguishable words.

Reza, Mike and Jack came to a conclusion. They had to get to the supplies room and get resupplies, they had ran out of rations, food, and were soon running out of ammo as well.

"Mike, Jack, the two of you have to stay here to take care of them two, meanwhile, I will go to the Supplies Room alone. I know the way as I have BH's layout in my minimap.” Reza instructed Mike and Jack.
"But Commander, we......" Jack argued.
"DO NOT argue with me, Private Jack, for I was not assigned as your Commander for nothing. I know what I am doing. What you need to do is to take care of them, make sure no Kharaas come and attack. That's a direct order! Get it?" Reza sternly lectured Jack.
"Yes, sir, good luck, sir" Jack and Mike both said, much to the annoyance of Reza for there was no need for them to be so formal in a life-or-death-situation like this. Following suit, Reza took with him a final spare clip of LMG bullets and a spare clip of Pistol bullets. He left.

Rations

Striding forward at a constant pace, checking the minimap every moment and so, Reza uttered to himself silently, "No time.......left, left, right. Door. Left. Right. Door. Damn.....which door. Right, no left.............So far so good" No Kharaas had approached him yet, nothing to hinder him, no locked doors. Everything was going smoothly according to plan.

At last, the Supplies Room was in view. Fortunately again, the door was not locked, and as Reza entered, a nauseous smell filled his nose. "Ugh......dust and dead bugs" Reza thought in disgust.

Meanwhile, back at the room, Mike had picklocked open a small white cardboard. Inside contained photos, a diary, some stationaries, some money, letters, useless stuff and at last, painkillers!

Reza was shocked, in a kind of happy way, for he realized he had just stumbled upon rows after rows of weapons much more advanced than the LMGs and Pistols everyone had.. Reza threw his LMG and LMG clip away. Smiling, he grabbed several guns and threw them onto the floor.

There were several loud clanks and Reza inspected the guns carefully. Fortunately, the guns were still in working condition. He selected two Shotguns and three Heavy Machine Guns and tied them together into a bundle using a strong cable. He took with him two spare Shotgun clips and three spare HMG clips. Lastly, Burt equipped himself with two kgs of MREs, several rows of bandage, painkillers and nano-medpacks. Ready to leave at last, he grunted as he used his last bit of strength to lift everything off the ground. The guns were a lot heavier than he thought and would surely delayed him. Nevertheless, he must hurry.

Huffing and puffing, Reza kicked open the door, and heard it. Few people other than frontline TSA Frontiersmen would hear this sound, for it was the dreaded sound of a blinking Fade. The blinking sound was coming closer and closer. Reza had seen Fades before, though personally, he had never managed to kill one. Nonetheless, that was when he had LMGs only, now it was different, he had with him plenty of heavy guns!

Reza slammed the items onto the floor and tried pulling a random gun out. It was then he realized he had tied the cable a lot tighter than he thought and he struggled hard to untie the cable. "Come loose! Come loose! You CREEP!" Reza cursed as he repeatedly pulled the cable but it stubbornly refused to go loose. Anytime now, the Fade would see appear.

Reza's eyes darted about wildly as he made an effort to spot the deadly beast before it spotted him.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw the Fade approached from a sharp corner. It was less than 10 metres away. Sensing hostility, the Fade roared loudly and turned to face Reza. In just a mere second, it had blinked right in front of Reza.

Reza breathed heavily as he stared, wide-eye in fear at the Fade face to face. He had never seen a Fade so unclose before. It was so close, he could smell its pungent breath and body odour. Its eyes looked cruel and savaged, its dirty teeth were lined with saliva, its body was full of veins and bacterium growth, its claw feet tapped on the metal floor excitedly, its muscles clearly shown under the light and a strange pus dripped out of the Fade's shoulder tube which was supposed to shoot Acid Rockets.

The Fade gave a loud snarl, raised its clawed arms and prepared to slash Reza apart. "NO!" was Reza's final thoughts before the Fade swung its arms down…………and stopped. The claws were just a few inches from Reza's face but something had made the Fade stop attacking. It raised its head, made a weird croaking sound and looked around curiously. It then turned another direction and blinked away. Within a second, the Fade had gone completely out of view.

Reza couldn't believe what just happened. Did the Fade felt some mercy for him at the last moment? Was the Fade a rebellion Kharaa that helped humans or was it something else? Reza checked his minimap a last time and headed back to find the others.

There was something calling out to the Fade, something which attracted the Fade’s attention. Reza could feel it, that the Fade was reluctant to simply let him go.

Fire_Eel · March 2004

Chapter 4 – Initiating The Plan

Old Memories

Jack gobbled down the MREs hungrily as if he had not eaten for days while Mike gulped down water from a tap.

Burt activated a nano-medpack and immediately, it begun releasing micro nano-machines into the air, which Burt inhaled through his mouth and nose. Once in his body, the nano-machines went to work, repairing Burt's damaged cells, fixing his raptured blood vessels, replacing his lost blood. The nanos flooded his system, replacing lost body fluid, patching up his shattered ribs. At last, they finally ran out of energy and faded into Burt's blood stream as nutrients for him to absorb. Minutes later, Burt was healed almost completely, his energy was restored and his body functioning like usual again, he stood up and stretched his arms as if nothing had happened earlier.

It was Sophie’s turn, and the nano-medpack healed her as effectively as it did for Burt. No more nano-medpacks were left, and Mike had to settle for bandages and painkillers for the wound on his shoulder.

Burt was stunned when he examined the white cardboard which Mike had opened earlier. He could clearly remember the golden pen which was a gift he had given to his best friend, Struk. “Jesus........” Burt muttered, almost unbelieving of what he saw in front of him. A diary stained with dried blood laid beside the pen, and although there wasn't a name, the handwriting was clearly that of Struk. Burt’s hand trembled with excitement and fear as he slowly held up the dairy. Flipping the pages, he gasped with astonishment as he read the last few pages, dumbfounded. It was the final recount of the days that followed after Burt's last transmission with Struk.

Day 893 - The satellite and communications system scrambled, something has gone terribly wrong. I was having a fine chat with Burt when the transmission went screwy. Pete said it was Earth's communication problem that went wrong, I highly suspect so. Pete, being the communications officer in charge appeared to be hiding something from me. Perhaps my prediction is right, perhaps something terrible will happen today.

Day 894 - I still didn't get to see Major Utiza! Everyone's gone dark.......silence........I think something's wrong.

Day 895 - (Blank)

Day 896 - (Blank)

Day 897 - What the hell is going on here?! Everyone's keeping his or her mouth shut! Traz, Ixa, Weoling, Kanalies and Jona all are ignorant about everything......so am I.

Day 898 - I caught Pete before he got away, and it took a combined effort of the sixteen of us before we squeezed the truth out of Pete, there appears to be a Kharaa infiltration on BH. It’s kinda understandable as BH is so big, it takes days to get from one end to another! It appears that the Kharaa were what's been attacking our communications system. Pete cannot confirm with me if there is indeed Kharaa infestation and he said he doesn't know anything else. If I find out he’s still keeping something from us, I will personally kill him.

Day 899 - (Blank)

Day 900 - Three power failures in a row! What the hell is happening to BH?!

Day 901 - Nothing much happened today, everyone's quiet and in low spirits. Maybe there is indeed Kharaa infiltration. Seug Min volunteered to take a trip to the other part of BH to check out what's going on.

Day 902 - (Blank)

Day 903 - (Blank)

Day 904 - Full alert. A Kharaa attack has been confirmed. As I was lying on my bed today, I saw a Skulk in the vent above, luckily, I had my LMG with me so I shot the crap out of the bloody creature. I haven't seen Seug Min since several days ago......I have a bad feeling about this........

Day 905 - Still no signs of him, also, many others were sent to the frontline to deal with the Kharaa. I hope for the best.

Day 906 - Only Ixa returned! He said the others all died! How could that be?!

Day 907 - Ixa died from his injuries, I blasted the brains out of an invading Lerk today but one of its spikes went into my shoulder! Cursed creature! Now I am gonna have to see the medic!

Day 908 - (Blank)

Day 909 - I am feeling hopeless......Seug Min never returned. I guess he died. Of so many of my friends, only Lyax survived. She has suggested to me that we hide from the others but I do not know how useful is this......

Day 910 - Why did I come to BH? I regret with every moment of my life coming to BH. More than half of the crew has died. Perhaps I will be the next......

Day 911 - I have been sent to the frontline to fight with the Kharaa today, and my record goes to a total of seven aliens. For the first time for a long time, I was in high spirits.

Day 912 - (Blank)

Day 913 - (Blank)

Day 914 - Earth had not sent help yet, we are doomed. More than 75% of BH officially belongs to the Kharaa. Maybe we should activate the self-destruct sequence to take down all the Kharaa with us...........

Day 915 - It is hopeless……………

Day 916 - My end is near. The Kharaas are breaking through the door, I do not know what's my future holds other than death. As much as I want, I would had ( ends )

The rest of the pages were empty. Burt sobbed quietly and gently placed back the diary, Struk must had died. For many months, he had wondered what happened to Struk, now the truth was clear.

At last, everyone's energy was refilled, they drank their last gulps of water, ate as much MREs as they could consume and left the room. Headed for the lift, Reza and Mike were given shotguns while the rest were given HMGs, whatever they were going to meet at the Resource Nozzle, they did not know. Reza secretly thanked the inventor of Nanos, without Nano-machines, countless marines would had died, and a lot of money and resource would had been wasted.

Jack “Sophie”
Sophie “Yes?”
Jack “You still alright?”
Sophie “Yeah, I 'm fine, thanks”
Jack “About the injury on your hand......”
Sophie “This? Oh well, thanks to the nano-medpack, I won't have an ugly scar over my hand”
Jack “About what happened just now……I am sorry”
Sophie “Sorry? What are you talking about?”
Jack “No….I mean lying to you and Mike, I truly is…..”
Sophie “It’s alright Jack. That no longer matters now”
Jack “Are you scared and all?”
Sophie “Scared? Why should I be scared?”
Jack “Good for you.......”
Sophie “Are you scared of something?”
Jack “Only one thing......the giant Onos”
Sophie “So am I........”
Jack “Sophie, do not worry, for I am with you”
Sophie “I know, from now on, we will all have to stick together and……….”

“Heads up!” Reza alerted everyone as they were coming around to a corner. Sloshing sounds could be heard, along with a constant bubbling noise. Reza held a finger to his lip in a keep-quiet signal, he then did a wait-here signal with his palm and cautiously took a quick peek from his position.

“Oh......crap” Reza uttered under his breath in frustration. Under the dim light, from almost twenty metres away, Reza could vaguely make out the shape of a fat Gorge, a towering Resource Tower and a deadly Offensive Chamber.

Resource Nozzle

“What is it, Reza?” Burt asked, concerned that something fearsome was up ahead.
“We have reached the Resource Nozzle and just as I had feared, there's a Resource Tower, an Offensive Chamber and a bloody Gorge” Reza replied, caressing his Shotgun.
“No other ways except this way?” Jack remarked.
“No other ways, only this way, we gotta have to take them out” Reza answered and did a hand signal for cover-me.
“Why can't we just throw a B-Grenade or something?” Jack questioned.
“Do you want the entire ship of Kharaa to come looking for us?” Burt reprimanded Jack as he got into position.

Reza took another quick peep, the Gorge did not move from its position at all, this would be good. First thing to do would be to kill the Gorge. Reza pointed to Jack and instructed him, “Private Jack, this is a chance for you to prove yourself. With your Heavy Machine Gun, take out that Gorge in less than two seconds, beware of the Offensive Chamber beside the Gorge”

Nervous and frightened, Jack decided to take a peep just like Reza. Unfortunately, inexperience along with fear made Jack leaned out a little too far, far enough for the Offensive Chamber to sense his presence. Immediately, the man-height Bio Structure got ready its spikes and its ‘head’ began to swell up and turned red. At this point in time, Reza heard the unmistakable ‘krazz’ sound, the indication that the Offensive Chamber was readying its deadly spikes. In the nick of time, Reza grabbed Jack’s shoulders and pulled him back. A spike travelling faster than the eye could see whizzed past Jack's cheek.

“Huh?!” Jack uttered in shock and confusion as he slowly turned around. The deadly 8-inch spike was now imbedded deeply into the wall behind him. As blood trickled down his face, Jack felt his cheek and realized in horror there was a slight cut.

“Do you know how close you were to certain death?!” Reza rebuked Jack as he took another quick glance, fearing for the worse. Amazingly, the Gorge had not move from its position at all. A second of thinking and Reza realized that the Gorge was asleep! “What a sheer stroke of good luck!” He thought gladly and got ready.

Counting ‘1,2,3’ under his breath, Reza sprang out suddenly from his position with a Shotgun. The Offensive Chamber unloaded a volley of several spikes at once as Reza strafed about, gracefully evading the menacing projectiles. Taking a quick aim, he unloaded a shotgun blast directly into the unfortunate Gorge. As it squealed in pain and died, the Offensive Chamber let loosed another volley of spikes. Before Reza could react, a spike had brushed past his shoulder and he cried out in pain.

“Reza!” Mike cried and he rushed out with Burt as Reza dived to the ground quickly to dodge another deadly spike. Together, they pumped many rounds of ammo into the Offensive Chamber. Sensing that the danger was over, Jack and Sophie emerged from their position.

The Gorge now laid down in a pool of greenish-yellowish blood with ten holes in its back while the Offensive Chamber now shrunken up as greenish-yellowish blood begun pouring profusely out of the many holes on its body. Finally, with a loud 'splat', the Offensive Chamber erupted and blood and remains begun splattering everywhere, raining down on Jack who was well ahead, ready to finish off the helpless Resource Tower.

“Argh!” Jack cried in surprise as he was now covered in disgusting Kharaa blood, much to the amusement of the others. In anger and frustration, Jack aimed his HMG at the head of the Resource Tower. Sensing danger, the Resource Tower turned around to face Jack. Making 'murk murk' cries, the Resource Tower raised its arms to protect itself. However, its weak defense could do little against the HMG as the bullets penetrated deep into the Resource Chamber's flesh.

The Resource Chamber begun to quiver and shake as it soon swelled up and exploded into a rain of blood and flesh. This time however, Jack was well out of the way.

“Look!” Jack shouted, pointing forward. “The lift is just ahead!”

Power Failure

Pressing repeatedly at the ‘up’ button for the lift did not toggle any response. Irritated, Mike pounded the ‘up’ button but it was to no avail. At last, Reza said “I guess the lift's stuck, we got no other choice other than to force it open, but I do not yet know what we will encounter”

Jamming the tip of his knife into the middle of the lift, Reza pushed forcefully, trying to make the door slide open. “Urghhhh!” Reza twisted the knife in different directions repeatedly.

At last, a small gap was made, “Reza, we are with you!”. Everyone inserted their fingers into the gap and pushed sideways. They could not stay here for long, anytime a Kharaa would appear. Finally, they pushed the the sides until there was a gap big enough for a person to squeeze through.

Jack took a glance into the mysterious darkness. He had never seen the interior of the passage for a lift and was afraid of the unknown which laid ahead. After roughly making out what was ahead, Jack suddenly reared back, fearful that he would accidentally fall in.

“What?” Sophie questioned, concerned.
“I know why the lift didn't work, take a look yourself, but be careful” Jack replied and moved away. Everyone took turns to see what was in the elevator shaft. At the bottom of the ‘pit’ was the ruins and debris of a lift that had crashed down all the way to the bottom. Directly positioned on the center was a broken cable that leaded all the way up to a darkness where everyone could not see. At the left meanwhile, was an emergency ladder.

“Now what?” Jack asked, hoping that Reza was not going to suggest what he already had in mind.
“We will all have to climb the ladder to the third floor and from then, we open the door and get to Sub-Control Room. Any questions?” Reza answered without any signs of fear.
“What if we fall? What if we don't make it?” Jack clearly was not enjoying this.
“Then it's your own problem”

Making a swift leap at the ladder, Reza easily hooked onto it with his arms. He then climbed upwards. Next to follow was Burt, who too had an easy time clamping onto the ladder. Reza climbed to the third floor where there was another door and a narrow catwalk lining the four sides. With one hand grabbing on the ladder and another hand on his knife, Reza took aim. In one smooth strike, he hurled his knife deep into the middle of the lift door.

Reza carefully placed a foot on the catwalk, and after getting a secure footing, he threw his body forward. Before falling, Reza gripped on to his knife. Now in an awkward position, he pressed his body on the door and felt the sides with a shaking hand. “Reza! Are you alright?!” Burt asked in shock as he stared at Reza, who could fall down anytime. Remaining silent, Reza continued to feel around, until he felt a small circuit.

Reza smiled, it was what he had been looking for. It was the emergency ‘open door’ button and ‘stop lift’. Reza punched the two buttons randomly and almost fell forward as the lift door slid open immediately. All the while, Burt stared in amazement.

“My turn!” Mike pounced on the ladder and hooked it with his arms, he begun climbing up and soon was out of sight, leaving Jack and Sophie still on the second floor. Jack took a deep breath, certainly, this looked easy to do, just jump, grab the ladder and climb up. Throwing his body forward, Jack hit the ladder harder than he thought. He didn't get a good hold on the ladder and his heart skipped a beat. Jack’s mind went blank and everything seemed to slow down. He fell downwards.

“NOOO!!!” Jack cried and desperately swung his arms forward. This saved his life, as he managed to hook one of his arms on the ladder.

Reza stared down at Jack as he breathed deeply and sighed in relief loudly. “Watch it Private” Reza seemingly taunted Jack. Jack now made sure he always had at least three of his limbs on the ladder before he proceeded upwards cautiously. The moment Jack had passed Sophie, she leapt forward easily, grabbed onto the ladder and climbed up rapidly like an agile monkey.

Despite the obvious lack of time, Jack was making slow progress and Sophie soon caught up with him. Squeezing beside him, she reached out an arm to grab the next bar.

Without any warning, BH begun to shake violently as if there was an Earthquake. Reza, Burt and Mike steadied themselves as they held on to anything to keep balance. Electricity sparkled on the cable as lights on the ceiling started flickering constantly. The vibrations continued on.

With a loud rumble, there was an unexpected jolt throughout Behemoth. Part of the ladder below Jack and Sophie broke, leaving their feet dangling in the air. Jack managed to hold on to the ladder despite lacking the aid of his legs. Sophie trembled in fear as she realized her grab on the ladder was loosening.

“Sophie! Get a firm grip!” Mike cried out in horror.

As Sophie’s feet kicked about, she raised another clammy hand to get a hold on the next bar. All of a sudden, her hand slipped off the ladder and Sophie now screamed loudly as she fell.

“GOTCHA!” Jack cried as he managed to get a firm grip on one of Sophie’s hands as she fell. “DON'T LET GO!!!” Sophie shouted to him as he now strained his arm to pull her up. “Ughhhhh.....” Jack moaned. With his greatest effort, he finally managed to pull Sophie up to the point where she could grab the ladder herself. Anytime now, the entire ladder could give way and the two of them struggled as they climbed up hastily, uttering prayers and hoping that they would reach the third floor fast enough.

At long last, with the aid of Mike and Burt, Sophie and Jack were pulled up to the third floor where they now laid down, too exhausted to even talk.

There was another sudden tremor, Mike stumbled and tripped. The lights suddenly faded, and the group now found themselves in total darkness. “Power failure?” Burt asked Reza in confusion. Reza switched on his flashlights and shined at the light bulbs above them. Unexpectedly, the lights flickered on again.

Everyone could feel BH vibrating less now, but it was still vibrating hard enough to affect the aiming of them nonetheless. As everyone breathed deeply and stared at the ceiling, the disruption in power soon faded. Something was wrong. The Kharaa were meddling with BH's power supply. They had to get to Sub-Control Room fast to figure out what’s going on.

Fire_Eel · March 2004

Chapter 5 – The Truth

It Is Revealed

“Guys?” Sophie suddenly asked.
“Yes?” Reza replied.
“Do you guys find the atmosphere……weird?” Sophie asked in a quivering voice.
Reza looked at her in surprise, “As in?”
Sophie stopped suddenly as she continued, “It felt rather cool at first, but as time went on, I realized that this place is freezing”
“Freezing?” Reza questioned.
“Also, I feel……kinda dizzy, or weird, as in, there seems to be a sudden change in the atmosphere” Sophie added.
“What? You too?” Jack cut in suddenly.
Reza pondered over what they said for a while. Certainly, all this seems to be linked to the unusual disruption in power just now.

Burt placed his hand on a metal bar for support, and jerked his hand away immediately. The metal bar was freezing.

“HOLY CRAP!” Burt yelled.
Reza glanced at him in surprise. “What?”
Burt faced everyone grimly. “Reza, this place is freezing”

Sophie rubbed her hands together for warmth while the others inspected the surrounding. It was at this point in time, that they realized that the gravity was very low. Sophie's MREs and equipment floated out of her pocket. At the same time, a strange white mist had now surrounded them. Reza rubbed his index finger over the ground and stared at his index finger in confusion –It was covered in frost. The gravity is unstable and the temperature is dropping at an alarming rate.

This is highly unfavorable for them, as Nano does not react well to environmental changes. Too high or too low a gravity change could greatly affect the accuracy of their weapons. Also, Nano is resistant to heat but not to cold. After prolonged exposure to coldness, their Nano Armors would freeze, the Nanos would break, increase in weight, lost effectiveness, and finally, no longer serve as a reliable form of protection. A slight frost now formed on their armor, and their HUDs had begun flashing repeatedly with a ‘Cold Exposure’ warning.

“Reza, you have a plan?” Mike questioned.
Reza rubbed his chin uneasily. “I am not sure about this, but I suggest we all get to Sub-Control Room. Hopefully enough, we will be able to re-adjust the power flow”

With Reza leading the way, the group now literally floated forward hastily, as they could not keep their feet on the floor in a zero-gravity environment.

They passed by rooms, doors, bacterium stains, corridors, corners, and continued on without stopping. Abruptly, everyone’s HUD stopped functioning. “What the hell?!” Jack cried in shock for he clearly had not expected this. Fortunately, Reza had anticipated it, and he had long memorized the route to the Sub-Control Room. However, he still could not understand why was there not even a single Kharaa at the third floor.

A ray of light streamed out of a half-opened door. Under the frost and bacterium stains, the words ‘Sub-Control Room’ are written clearly on a notice beside the door. They have reached their destination at last. Bursting into the room, Reza felt a burning sensation on his eyes as he struggled to check the surrounding. “Whoa!” Jack shouted as he raised his hands to shield his eyes from the glaring light. It was especially bright in the Sub-Control Room, or perhaps it was merely because they were all used to the low-light atmosphere for BH.

After a short while, they had gotten more used to the bright light, and looked around freely. The Sub-Control Room consisted of a main room which was connected to four other smaller rooms. There was a huge screen, several super computers and some desks in the main room. The other rooms contained computers, files, desks, lockers and various seemingly useless equipment.

Jack, Mike, Burt and Sophie each went to the smaller rooms as Reza switched on all of the super computers. To his disappointment, only one was in working condition. Jack switched on all of the computers in the room which he was appointed to. Mike checked all files and desks for any clue to how they should take back BH or at least, warn Earth of BH. Burt pulled open and inspected all the lockers, kicking open those that were locked. However, nothing useful could be found as the lockers only contained clothes, bags, worthless guns, snacks and an occasional nude photo. Sophie meanwhile, checked for any usable or salvageable equipments..

“Guys!” Reza shouted excitedly.
“What?!” Everyone else shouted in unison.
“I think all of you better come look at this!” Reza replied.

Reza rapidly typed commands into the super computer he was working on. Meanwhile, the others had gathered beside him.

“Nano-Gridlock” Reza announced.
“As I thought, Bacterium must be interfering with BH then” Sophie concluded.
“Yes, I have re-activated the heater system and gravity system. The Kharaa were re-allocating the power supply to somewhere else” Reza declared as he continued to programmed the system.

Reza now clicked at several folders and opened them, as he inspected all of the files carefully. He then went on to check the power supply.

“Oh god……” Reza muttered.
“What?” Burt asked fearfully.
“The Kharaa just……got smarter” Reza answered.
Jack tried to peer at the computer screen as he asked, ”What do you mean by that?”
“The Kharaa has learned to control BH on the overall, that explains why they could send BH heading back to Earth. However, they were also meddling with the weapons system” Reza said gravely.
“Huh?” Jack asked in confusion. “Like earlier when they shot us with BH’s turret?”
“That was just the tip of the iceberg. Different weapons have different level of security, depending on how powerful the weapon is. When no one is in command of BH, the security system for all the weapons activate” Reza explained carefully.
Jack scratched his head as he looked at everyone, “I don't get it”
Reza let out a sigh as he continued his explanation. “Example, the Sonic Cannon Turret can only be operated by a master hacker, the vulcans can be operated by anyone with a decent amount of computering skills. However, BH also has got nuclear warheads”
“WHAT?!” Everyone in the room shouted.
“Obviously, the nuclear warheads would be protected by a top-notch security system along with firewalls. However, it won’t last. The Kharaa are constantly adapting, always getting smarter. They used Bacterium to combat the security system, only until recently, they won……” Reza said grimly.
“What does that mean?” Jack asked.
“It means,” Reza spun around to face the others. “The Kharaa can now use the nuclear warheads on BH and fire them at Earth”
“Oh damn, have they fired yet?” Jack questioned.
“No, no, not yet. BH is not in firing range yet” Reza replied, a slight hint of hope in his voice.
Mike suddenly cut into the conversation, “So exactly how long do we have?”
“Until just now,” Reza continued. “BH has started moving faster than before. At this current speed, BH would reach firing range in approximately……four hours!”
“What kind of damage would Earth…” Sophie asked.
Reza broke her sentence. “Suffer? Based on my rough calculations, it would eradicate somewhat an area as large as Asia, following suit, it would send the rest of Earth into a nuclear winter………Is that bad or what?”

Fear itself seemed to stretch out a vast hand, like a dark cloud rising up and looming in to engulf them all.

“We must stop the Kharaa from firing the nuclear warheads!” Burt cried.
“Yes, certainly, however, we need to warn Earth as well” Reza said calmly.
“How do we do that?” Burt asked.
Reza rubbed his chin uneasily, “I don’t know, we must first devise a plan”
“What about the unusual tremors, screwed-up atmosphere and weird energy disturbance just now?” Sophie questioned.
“It appears that the nuclear warheads take somewhat……several hours to charge up, if you want to fire all of them at once. To speed up the charge-up process, the Kharaa meddled with the power supply. At first, they were interfering with the boosters and fuel-jet cells, however, this not only caused a terrible disturbance to BH’s speed, it also screwed up the lights and almost caused a crash-down of BH’s entire power supply. Following suit, the Kharaa then re-adjusted the power supply for the first floor all the way to the third floor. The heater and the gravity used up a lot of energy, thus, they re-adjusted the energy supply and directed it towards the nuclear missiles” Reza explained everything completely.
“So……that explains why no Kharaa were found on the third floor!” Jack concluded.

A loud beep suddenly sounded from one of the rooms, it was the alarm signal for the smaller computers which Jack was working on. Everyone gathered in front of the computers as the image of a new spaceship was shown, heading towards BH from Earth.

Reza stared at the screen carefully, from years of experience and training, he remembered that spaceship that was coming ever closer.

“That is the EX-209, which belongs to Major Juo!" Reza announced.
“But BH will shoot it down! We must warn them!” Sophie cried.
Reza turned to face her, “How?”
“Just communicate with them somehow! We must stop BH!” Sophie uttered fearfully.
“Look!” Jack shouted excitedly.

On another computer, the words ‘BH Anti-SpaceShip Defense System Code Magma Activated’ were shown. A shockwave was seen hitting the EX-209 directly, and the ship exploded immediately. None of its crew were seen escaping.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Burt shouted at the top of his voice.
“Oh no……this means, all the ships coming to rescue us will be shot down” Sophie said grimly.
“Yes, and even if the crew manage to get here, I doubt they will survive the Kharaa” Reza added.
“Can't you stop BH from firing the nuclear warheads or something?!” Sophie cried.
“No, I am afraid not. The Kharaa are using Bacterium to block us off, preventing us from manually controlling or overwriting the code. It’s Nano-Gridlock” Reza replied calmly.
Sophie cried out with a panicky voice, “Is there no other way?!”
“Just one……we get right to the source, but it won’t be easy” Reza muttered. “There’s a high possibility that the Kharaa are concentrated at BH’s key structure points. And we will have to get past them. What chance do you think we have?”

Hearing all this, Jack slumped against the wall. He had seen so many deaths, felt so much pain, and now, Earth is going to get destroyed, and they had no way of warning Earth. All hopes have been lost…… Tears of fright and sadness dripped down his eyes as Jack clenched his fist in frustration.

“I wished I had never came on this mission……I wished they never built BH……Earth had never meant for the Kharaa to take over BH and used it against us……how I wish this didn’t happen……” Jack murmured to himself, a tone of sadness in his voice.
“No one had meant for these things to happen, Jack” Reza approached Jack as he spoke in a understanding voice. “It isn’t your fault, it is no one’s fault. We do only what we are meant to do in the time that is given to us. If we do not do anything, if we do not help to warn Earth, if we do not stop the Kharaa, then it is our fault. For it is our duty, as Frontiersmen of the TSA, it is what we must do!”

Jack looked up at Reza, suddenly, Reza didn’t seemed so mean anymore. Looks of hope and understanding were in Reza’s eyes and he stood high up and stared down at Jack with his hand reached out. Flashes of hope had gone back to Jack’s eyes, he now understood fully what he has to do. Jack reached out his hand and Reza pulled him up.

“What are we waiting for? Lets go!” Jack yelled excitedly.

For Earth

Reza continued entering more commands into the super computer. “There! At last!” He cried, satisfied. A square-and-pixel inside-view of BH was now being uploaded into the screen of the computer. Among the layout, many red dots, maybe up to the thousands could be seen. Some were scattered while other red dots were massively grouped up together at several areas.

“I assume those are the Kharaa?” Jack concluded.
“Yes, from what I can see, there appears to be no less than several thousands of them on this ship” Reza declared.
“So……the swarm of red dots means many Kharaas squeezed together?” Jack questioned.
“Yes, there are apparently several key structure points where the Kharaa have clustered at. I would call this ‘choke points’. Fortunately, of the many choke points, we are going to only one. It is the Main Bridge” Reza explained.
“If I am not wrong, this is an advanced form of Motion Tracking right? Where BH basically detects all moving life form. Humans would be classed as ‘green’ while Kharaa is classed as ‘red’, isn't it?” Jack assumed.
Reza folded his arms as he said, “So far so good”
“If this only detects movement, then what if there is another enormous group of Kharaa which are not moving, what if they are in our way?” Jack asked.

Reza remained quiet. Clearly, he was pondering over what Jack had just pointed out. Deciding to move on, Reza then pointed to a large square joined with four smaller squares and five green dots.

“This is the Sub-Control Room which is the area we are at. We will then return to the lift, and move up to the Main-Communications Room, which would be on the……….twenty-third floor”

Everyone except Reza and Burt groaned in displeasure. How long and tiring was that going to be?!

“From the Main-Communications Room, we can contact Earth and warn the TSA. Following suit, we then move to the Main Bridge which is also on the same floor. However, the Main Bridge is a choke point, regardless though, we must move on and attempt to drive away all the Kharaa there. The Main Bridge contacts more information than I can retrieve from this super computer, including the secret location of the Missile Silo"
Sophie cut in suddenly, “Sorry to interrupt, but isn't there like……several hundred Kharaas there?”
“I know that, but even if it costs our lifes, we must take back the Main Bridge” Reza replied.
“What exactly is so important about it?” Sophie asked.
“If we can drive away the Kharaa, we can basically control the entire BH from the Main Bridge, stop it from firing the nuclear warheads and even send BH away from Earth” Reza explained.
Sophie questioned again, “Okay, pretending that we do take back the Main Bridge, how can we escape from BH? Any lifeboats?”
Reza remained silent for a long time, “……………no. I had checked the layout for BH, there doesn’t appear to be even a single lifeboat or escape pod”
“But what matters now is saving Earth isn’t it?” Jack commented.
Reza smiled at the comment. “Well said, Jack”
“What do we do once we communicate with Earth?” Mike asked.
“We would first warn them of the situation, of the Kharaa and stuff, and ask them for a solution” Reza explained.
“What if there isn’t a solution?” Mike cut in.
“Then we call them to fire a nuke back at BH” Reza answered calmly.

Everyone else remained silent.

No one had realized that in the midst of their conversation, a red dot was now moving towards them steadily. Everyone now stood in a circle, and placed their hands together.

Reza “For Glory!”
Burt “For Death!”
Mike “For Honor!”
Sophie “For Hope!”
Jack “For Earth!”

Done with their final reloads, weapon checks, they finished almost all of their last MREs. No toilet was available in the area and they had to make do in one of the un-used smaller rooms. Everyone uploaded BH’s layout into their HUDs. The plan was now to return to the lift, climb up to the twenty-third level where they would proceed to the Main-Communications Room to contact Earth. Next, they would move to the Main Bridge, fight the Kharaas and retake BH.

Finally, the group set out, leaving the Sub-Control Room. The atmosphere disturbance was now gone, and the floor and walls were drenched in water. Jack is glad he didn’t find himself floating unusually anymore. They passed by doors after doors, corridors, rooms, and finally they arrived at a cross-junction.

“Quiet!” Mike uttered suddenly. “I hear something”

Everyone stopped, for they trusted Mike’s sharp ears. In a short while, everyone could hear loud stamping noises in a slow, regular pace. There is also a heavy breathing, followed by some growling in the distance ahead.

Something big and inhuman is coming.

Ns The Behemoth Platinum

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